Legacy Undead
by LuminaHan
Summary: What if Zack Fair lived on? This story follows the events leading up from Crisis Core to and Final Fantasy VII, with not just one hero Cloud Strife, but alongside him, Zack who still owes Sephiroth a vengeance. The story begins with nineteen year old Zack, on the run towards Midgar with eighteen year old Cloud. Will these two fugitive heroes escape from their doomed SOLDIER fate?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: LEGACY UNDEAD**

**Pairings/Characters: **Zack / Aerith & Cloud / Tifa

**Genre: **Romance / Adventure

**Summary: **Zack accompanies Cloud as they try to make a living out being the Jack of all Trades before the events leading up to FFVII. However, when time flows by the events of FFVII are faced with not just one hero, but two.

**Warnings: **This novel may be confusing to some people as it has two protagonists rather than one.

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII is owned by Square Enix. No copyright infringement intended.

**Note: **I am having a bit of trouble writing a story that has two protagonists. So I will take a bit of time finishing this, as it is a challenging piece of work to write about.

* * *

The scorching wasteland carried on endlessly.

The burning sun blazed all the life out of Zack's surroundings as far as his eyes could see.

He felt his throat plead for water from quenching thirst as his powerless feet dragged itself along the sandy pavement.

What made Zack even weaker to carry on in this devastating situation was that he had to also watch out for his junior man Cloud Strife.

But just as negative thoughts inched to emerge in Zack's head about how bothersome watching out for Cloud can be, he recalled back the earlier events which could have been the very last moments of his life.

It was not too long ago, when Zack was surrounded by countless Shinra soldiers in blue armor, fully equipped with machine guns ready to assassinate the First Class fugitive SOLDIER.

Zack was ready to fight to the death, to protect Angeal's honor and to embrace his own dreams of dying as a hero.

But just as Zack was about to charge in to the last battle of his life, a sudden voice disrupted his further moves.

It was Aerith's tender and gentle voice, reminding of him the twenty-three tiny wished she had.

She told him that all of them could be summed up into one wish: that she wanted to see him more.

It was as if Zack's whole life flashed before his eyes; the memories of Angeal telling him that he is a little more important than his Buster Sword, Aerith picking white and yellow lilies in the morning sunshine that dismantled his every senses, the sweet tingling sensation of the fruit Benora White on his tongue, Cloud's juvenile fragility as he lay deprived of energy…

Zack couldn't do it. He couldn't place his honor and dreams above the happiness of those he cared for and those he needed to protect.

His courage to sacrifice his life fighting to his last breath phased into a different determination: A much stronger will to survive at all costs.

He knew he didn't have the ability to summon Ifrit or Bahamut at his own will, but at least he could try…

He had no other way to survive…

Zack tried to focus his mind on summoning Bahamut.

He thought 'Bahamut has wings! Just let me ride the thing to get the hell outta here!'

Zack felt the pain of his arms being shot as fresh blood oozed out of his new punctured wounds.

The soldiers were firing at him without mercy once they realized what Zack was up to.

Zack couldn't give up, even as he shut his eyes through the immense pain of his body tearing apart through countless bullets, he still focused with all his strength and might on Bahamut.

A rush of tornado wind blew his hair and body backwards as quickly as the bullets themselves.

It was as if a fever of cold wind was all he could feel instead of the rage of gun fires.

Zack opened his eyes out of shock.

It _was_ Bahamut.

Zack managed to summon the creature at his dying command.

"Now just let me ride on you like a Chocobo so we can get the hell out of here!" Zack pleaded as he half shouted at Bahamut in terror.

But Bahamut had other plans.

The Shinra troops were now menacingly switching their target focus on Bahamut and aggressively provoking its attention.

Bahamut conjured up outsources of energy to produce Mega Flare, and before Zack could shelter himself from the explosive site, Bahamut had already cleared the Shinra army with a single razor of abomination.

Zack blinked feverishly.

"It's over? Just like that?" blurted Zack.

'Well what was I expecting.' thought Zack.

'That Bahamut would negotiate a peaceful treaty with them when they were firing at it like a bulldozer?' he chuckled as he ridiculed himself in his own mind.

"Well thanks anyway. I'm glad that's over. Listen… uh… I know you don't normally do this… but uh... I have an unconscious friend out there… and we both need a ride…- I mean a _flight_ to Midgar… could you lend us a hand, oops… I mean your _wings_?" stuttered Zack as he nervously approached the winged beast.

Bahamut ignored Zack's pleas to flap its giant wings, ready to take flight.

The dry sand in the desert flew into Zack's eyes as Bahamut disappeared in a flash towards the blinding sun in the sky.

Zack sighed a gasp of disappointment.

"Well, at least I'm alive…" he muttered.

Zack cured his wounds from the gunfire with a cure magic.

He remembered that Cloud was still lying unconscious and lifeless in a corner.

Zack hurried off to find Cloud still asleep behind the rock where he last left him.

He piggy backed the young infantry on his back to walk towards the city of Midgar.

It was a long, tiring and energy-consuming journey.

Cloud, although he was only eighteen, was a burden on even Zack's buff shoulders.

"This is why too much muscle training is bad for young soldiers" lectured Zack to Cloud.

"Just hang in there. We'll be in Midgar… one day…" Zack put on a smug smile as he contemplated on the thought of seeing Aerith again.

The clouds in the sky smudged into the color of dirty grey metal as the cold rain drenched the two SOLDIERS.

Zack continued on his journey even in the wet wild.

Two days later, the rain had long stopped and the desert plains were as barren as it used to be.

There was no water, no trees or animals to be seen.

Just cracked pavements of dehydrated sand and rock.

After what seemed like infinity, Cloud finally began to show signs of life on Zack's back.

"Cloud?" Zack's eyes were filled with the hopeful assertiveness of a puppy.

Zack laid Cloud on the ground as Cloud opened his eyes from his deep slumber.

"Zack?" whimpered Cloud.

"Cloud! You're alive! Well I knew you weren't dead, but boy... you've been in the dream world for waay too long man… I thought about undressing your armor to lay off the heavy load on my shoulders…" groaned Zack half-heartedly.

Cloud recollected his stance as he stood up for the first time since the near death incident in Nibelheim.

"I can walk now. Thanks Zack. Where are we headed to?" Cloud had so many more questions brewing up inside him to ask Zack.

Like what happened since Sephiroth _killed _him in the Mako Reactor?

Why is he still alive?

And where is Tifa?

Is she alright?

What happened to Nibelheim and its residents? Are they safe?

Where are they now?

But cloud knew from his instincts that right now, he and Zack were is a life threatening situation.

A First Class SOLDIER like Zack wouldn't carry an unconscious infantry SOLDIER like him on his back all alone in a dying desert.

Especially not since what happened with Sephiroth in the Mako Reactor…

He knew they were on the run, and that they had to reach a safe place as soon as possible.

His questions can wait.

"Midgar." affirmed Zack.

Cloud nodded in agreement.

The two SOLDIERS needed no further explanation from each other.

For the time being, that was all Cloud needed to know.

Right now, that was all he _wanted _to know.

The other facts, trivial or important, would only worsen Cloud's deep inner fear of the unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ah!" Zack screamed into the desolate dry air.

"I can't take it anymore!" yelled Zack.

"That's it. Shinra or no Shinra, I'm heading back to my rents' place." Zack stated as if no one could convince him not to do so otherwise.

"But Zack…" panted Cloud.

"What if they held your parents as hostages once the Shinra troops know that we're staying with them…? It could be… a danger to your family… and us…" reminded Cloud patiently.

"Damn it! Damn Shinra! Damn Gongaga! Why is everybody trying to jail us in this… this… _Ifrit fire hole_!" Zack lost his hot temper as he recklessly kicked at innocent pieces of dusty round rocks on the cracked pavement.

"I think we need a breather…" moaned Zack as he allowed his body weight to come crashing down on the sandy basement.

Cloud duplicated Zack as his own legs pleaded in dire need of rest.

"Look… the water supply we cranked out of the rainfall is nearly gone…" Zack hopelessly puffed out a groan of pessimism.

"Don't worry Zack. It might rain again anytime soon… I hope." Cloud felt the need to say anything optimistic to cheer Zack up, even though he personally highly doubted that the sunny sky will suddenly rain.

"Dear almighty Bahamut!" Zack held his hands high up towards the sky to worship the flaming sun.

"Even though you abandoned us by _flying away_ in times of need, we still believe you could make the sky produce magical droplets of rain!" Zack cried out towards the blinding sun with a desperate plea.

"Oh, Leviathan! Give us your tsunami! Bless us and show us your graceful mercy with a flood of water for us to drink!" Zack seemed as if he would carry on this ridiculous holy begging until he called out to every summon there ever was.

"It's no use Zack. Summons won't come to give us a glass of water." exhaled Cloud.

"I know…" Zack heaved out his lifeless murmur as he lay dead upon the pavement.

Zack's optimistic and hopeful persona was finally diminishing.

His dying legs couldn't go on any further.

What was more, was that Zack was now tired.

His back was ching for a rest on anything, even if it meant lying bare on the desert floor.

"Let's just crash for the time being and hope Ifrit won't bake us with the sun." Zack lay on his back to avoid direct contact with the burning sunlight as he shut his eyes purposely.

Cloud mimicked Zack without bickering as if Zack was still his captain in charge.

* * *

The scorching desert soon welcomed the cool black darkness as the moon took over the sun's position in the night sky.

In the hazy unconscious dream world, Zack sensed an encompassing vibration that shook the ground as if there was an earthquake.

The combination of sand and wind tangled around Zack's entire body, blowing his hair and black SOLDIER uniform in a rushing tornado of violent air.

The chopping upper sound of a helicopter drummed into Zack's ear as he slowly awoke into reality from his restful slumber.

"Ex-First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair, sighted in accommodation in Desert Inn." uttered a squeaky, wheezy male voice.

Zack looked up to see a thin pale young man wearing a loosely fitted black suit.

An unkempt red ponytail in line with a red, symmetrical tattoo slashed across his face.

"The name's Reno. And there's no need to introduce my surname." chuckled Reno.

"What do you want from us?!" Zack stood up hastily as he saw a tanned dark bold guy in sunglasses approach him with authority.

"Tseung of the Turks sent us on a rescue mission. Oh, and also on a mail package delivery mission too." Reno sleazed his words as if he was too lazy to articulate his speech.

"Zack! What should we do?!" Cloud held up Zack's buster sword in combat at the man in black sunglasses, ready to defend both Zack and himself at will.

"I'm Rude. And I'm not here for a dual with ex-SOLDIERS and fugitive infantrymen." declared Rude coldly.

"Tseung sent us?! What does he want?!" Zack was still reluctant to trust these two.

Although Zack had met both Reno and Rude in Midgar before, he couldn't trust anyone without sincere caution now that he and Cloud were laboratory rats that managed to run away from their cages.

Who knew what more experiments anyone wanted to conduct on these two fresh SOLDIER specimens…?

"Why should we trust you? If you are here to hand us over to Shinra, you should back off now!" warned Zack as he militarily advanced the two with his bare fists.

"_Because_, I left my damn Electro-Mag Rod in the backseat of my chopper. If I came to drag you by force, I wouldn't have come empty-handed. Especially not with _Ex-SOLDIERS_." snickered Reno lazily.

"Unless you would rather sleep in Desert Inn for the rest of your lives, come with us." Rude's thick, masculine voice alleged emotionless.

Zack did a quick mental calculation in his head before he made his move.

'What have I got to lose… if we stay here, Cloud and I will die of dehydration and starvation sooner or later…' thought Zack.

"Alright. We're coming with you. But on the side note remember this. If you mess with me or my mate, I'll fling the buster sword directly on your _ponytail _and on your _sunglasses_." threatened Zack as he glared at Reno with the eyes of a tiger.

"Whatever." Reno didn't seem to feel threatened or offended at all by Zack's aggressive challenge as he walked towards his helicopter.

As Zack marched towards the helicopter, Cloud followed without much contemplation.

"Where are we going?" demanded Zack as he clipped his seat belt.

Reno started the engine as the helicopter took flight into the starry night that embraced the white full moon.

"To Tseung." replied Rude firmly.

"Oh… great…" Zack's voice sharply deposited sarcasm as he looked out of the helicopter window.

The ground was now far below him.

He could now see the pin points of tree tops that lay ahead from the edge of the desert wasteland.

"I'm thirsty." gasped Zack.

"Me and Cloud need a bottle of water. NOW." ordered Zack.

"Geez… it seems like the drying out in the desert thing really did the trick on you guys to become so… _Rude_. Aren't I right _Rude_?" asked Reno as he glanced at Rude's dull face.

Rude chucked both Cloud and Zack a bottle of fresh, clean water.

Zack and Cloud gurgled down the bottles as if they were babies breastfeeding upon their mother's milk in a matter of seconds.

They repeatedly gasped and emptied countless water bottles that Rude threw in the back seat.

"Food." Croaked Zack like a baby.

Rude let out a subtle grunt as he directly threw a sandwich each at both Cloud and Zack's face to show his annoyance.

Rude realized his salary didn't pay enough to act as if he were a helicopter waitress on demand.

Both of the ex-SOLDIERS gorged themselves on the cold, mushy sandwiches without savoring the taste or properly chewing the bread.

Zack now felt a sleepy sensation as he rested his light-headed entity towards the window sill.

'I'm going to meet Tseung soon. What he wants to do with us… I don't know… as long as he doesn't take us to Shinra, we will be fine… Hey… Who knows? Maybe Cloud and I can join the Turks…' thought Zack as he leaned his head on the window to doze off back to sleep.


End file.
